P&G strikes creative partnerships with celebrities

It looks like Proctor & Gamble is increasing its non-traditional advertising strategies with partnerships involving journalism, filmmaking, music, comedy and technology.

According to Business Insider, P&G will be announcing new partnerships with celebrities like John Legend and Arianna Huffington, among others.

The world’s second largest advertiser has become very disillusioned with the tech giants in general, especially with Google and Facebook and is looking for new avenues to stay culturally relevant in the eyes of the consumer.

More people are using online ad-blockers these days, so the company is looking forward to nontraditional advertising avenues.

“The ad world has been isolated for too long, and there’s much greater creativity to be achieved when you merge these different worlds,” P&G marketing chief Marc Pritchard told the publication in an exclusive interview ahead of the Cannes festival.

“Working with people who share your values, and desire to be a force for good, creates another level of creativity and humanity.”

It seems that with John Legend, the company will explore themes like parenthood, modern masculinity, music and social justice to increase branding exposure for its brands like Pampers and Gillette.

While with Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, it will try to harness the topics surrounding healthy habits to brand its products like Oral-B, Crest, Pampers, Venus, Secret and Pantene.

P&G has long taken the position to be a company that wants to be a force of good and also focus on growth.

The company is looking to increase its ad spending on platforms that are more like publishers and broadcasters.

Pritchard believes that the company’s approach to branding, in the case of its collaborative strategy with Legend will be markedly different.

Research has shown that customers have a greater affinity for companies that stand for something.

According to Pritchard, while non-traditional advertising only accounts for less than 5% of its media budget, brands like Tide, Olay and SK-II have experienced double digit growth by tackling risky topics like societal issues.

Ultimately, Pritchard is pragmatic about this new approach. “The reality is that there is a business case,” said Pritchard. “When you do these things, it does positively affect the business and growth.”

Source: Business Insider.